• Addison, Lindsay
• Agee, Beth
• Arnwine, Kristen
• Barlow, Nicole
• Bivins, Antonio
• Bowers, Lindsey
• Brewington, Erika
• Burch, Tico
• Callahan, Meghan
• Cameron, Jessica
• Childs, Whitney
• Cook, Matt
• Coonrod, Lindsay
• Crawford, Katie
• Daies, Natalia
• Dietrich, Amy
• Drury, Sara Jane
• Farmer, Sarah
• Floyd, Evan
• Gemmel, Amy
• Greene, Victoria
• Gunnels, Leigh
• Gxashe, Biso
• Hankerson, Meshae
• Henry, Jacqueline
• Herrington, Brittany
• Hinkley, Lauren
• Huger, Brooke
• Hyter, Lynndsey
• Joiner, Trey
• Jones, Carter
• Jurgensen, Justin
• Keith, John
• Kemp, Sarah
• Kicklighter, James
• Kupcewicz, Ally
• Lawhead, Ansley
• Le, An
• Lee, Lauren
• Lindsay, Brittney
• Lintel, Marilyn
• Mardar, Stefanie
• Martin, Ashleigh
• Mauney, Matt
• McCullough, Happy
• Monahan, Sarah
• Mosa, Hozan
• O’Dowd, Whitner
• Odubanjo, Femi
• Olesen, Line
• Pascall, Michelle
• Pilgrim, Justin
• Pittman, Samone
• Pond, Eryn
• Redmond, Kristen Haley
• Renfroe, Ashley
• Robinson, Hillary
• Robinson, Jaylynne
• Roper, Emily
• Runyan, Sean
• Sage, Katrina
• Schlumper, Allie
• Scott, W. Clay
• Sherwin, Casey
• Smathers, Lauren
• Smith, Meghan
• Spillers, Meghan
• Starr, Keenan
• Stratton, Mackenzie
• Sullivan, Sarah Beth
• Taylor, Katelyn
• Thomas, Becca
• Tidmore, Meg
• Turner, Jaren
• Walker, Marie
• Whigham, Kacie
• Wigley, Kenneth
• Williams, Emily
• Wright, Kati Ann
• Zaremba, David

In this episode, which was based on a botched promotion from a radio station in Atlanta, live turkeys dropped from a helicopter. Chaos ensues.

What can we learn about how NOT to do a promotion from Mr. Carlson’s fiasco? I’ll get the list started:

1.   Communicate with your entire team before launching a promotional campaign (or a turkey).
2. Do your research! It’s best to learn ahead of time that turkeys don’t fly.
3. Get permission before doing a stunt.
4. Know what is considered news in your local market. Giving away turkeys for Thanskgiving wasn’t news. (But watching live turkeys plummet from a helicopter probably would be news.)
5. Brainstorm for what could possibly go wrong before you proceed with a promition.

What would you add to this list?

Why is learning AP style so important? PR practitioner Sandra Hernandez offers this:

PR writers really need to know the things that make them effective. I learned to write in AP in college, because it was necessary to pass the class. I continued to write in AP because I found that what I send to media had a better response rate when written in AP. 

To help students learn more about AP style, I sought feedback from a variety of public relations practitioners and faculty members, trying to come up with a list of what PR writers REALLY need to know (cold, without even looking in the AP Stylebook) about AP style.

The most helpful advice came from colleagues on PR OpenMic, a social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners. (See the individual responses I received in the PR OpenMic PR Writing Discussion Forum.) Additional helpful advice came from colleagues on Twitter, including Kristie Aylett and Claire Celsi.

The most important (and sometimes confusing) parts of AP Style for PR writers are:

Please complete this final blog checklist to be sure you’re on track and have all the required elements in your blog. (It’s fine to complete the form more than one time.)

For your final (as in culminating, not exam) blog post in PRCA 2330, create a top ten list of things you learned in Introduction to Public Relations. Be very specific. 

For example:

• Good: I’ll need to learn Associated Press Style to write news releases that will get published.
• Not so good: How to write a news release
• Awful: News release

Options:

• Create the list in audio, and embed the audio to your blog. (Utterli is an easy way to do this.)
• Create the list in PowerPoint, then embed the slidedeck into your blog. (I use SlideShare for this.) If you make your slides with mostly images and few words, be sure to put your details in the Notes portion of your slides.
• Create a 10-minute or shorter video, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo, then embed the video into your blog.
• Base your list on your favorite movie (for example: “Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Intro to PR, I Learned in ______________”)
• Simply write the list in WordPress (zzzzz…. boring)

This Top Ten List will be worth 50 points (from your Engagement points) and is due May 3 by midnight. Use the category of Assignment so that I can find it on your blog easily. 

NOTE: You also need to post a link to your Top Ten List as a reply to this blog post.

Earlier this semester, you had the opportunity to try out Twitter and then write about your One Week of Twitter on your blogs. Some of you continued to use Twitter even after the assignment was over. Several have used Twitter as a way to connect with me personally (via direct messages).

Now you have the opportunity to jump back into Twitter one more time. Pick a 48-hour period ending no later than April 22 to engage on Twitter again. You should send a minimum of 10 tweets over this timeframe. Use the hashtag #PRCA2330 in your tweets so that others in our class can find them easily. Be sure to send me an @ message to let me know when you’re starting your 48 hours.

Ideas for things to tweet about

1. Share (shortened) hyperlinks to sites on the topic of public relations.
2. Respond to public relations professionals.
3. Ask questions that could be answered by public relations professionals.
4. Promote a campus organization or event that you’re involved with.
5. Rave or rant about a brand.

Write a blog post about your Twitter experience

This post is due before midnight on April 22 and is worth up to 50 points. Use the category of “Assignment” so that I can easily find this post. Include all of the following:

1. A hyperlink to your Twitter username (for example: “You can find me on Twitter @barbaranixon.”)
2. How was this 48-hour experience different from your first week on Twitter? (Be specific.)
3. What surprises you about using Twitter?
4. What do you still want to know about, related to using Twitter?
5. Recommend at least three public relations professionals (not including any of the ones I originally recommended), with a brief explanation of why you’re recommending other public relations students to follow them. (Hyperlink to their Twitter usernames.)

NOTE: You also need to post a link to your Another 48 Hours post as a comment on this blog post.

Questions?

Based on the presentation Crisis Management: The Savvy Communicator by Kami Huyse. Used with permission.